So it’s that time of the year again, EGX Rezzed at Tobacco Dock in London.

Lovely place to hold this event each year but of course I am not here to compliment the scenery, but rather what games stood out and why.

Here are some games you may want to check out and each have their own great reasons as to why. If it sounds like your sort of game, great, but don’t hesitate to move out of your comfort zone and give others a go, as you may be pleasantly surprised.

Click the game title for all relevant content and our opinions of everything we’ve played at EGX Rezzed 2016:

Gang Beasts

Now Andy and I have obviously had a little go at Gang Beasts when it first came out years ago and it has definitely evolved. There are more modes (football looking mode looks like a lot of fun) and there’s now clothing, WOOHOO! However, there are still no feet, which I still find disturbing and unfinished. But that doesn’t at all detract from the absolute fun and laughs you get out of this game. If you have never heard or tried this game, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!Tahra still finds their lack of feet disturbing… I approve..! This game was hilarious the first time we played it, the second and also the third were just as crazy. So of course I am looking forward to trying the new locations and additional costumes. This is a great party game and will be played for a long time to come. At the event they were showcasing a version of the game using a VR headset, I’m pretty sure that will be quite awkward to play but at the same time, you just know Tahra will freak out while playing..!

Shu

First game I played at Rezzed this year and despite the controls being pretty straight forward and simple, I still managed to panic and die quite a bit. I really need to work on that. Definitely a fun platformer and pretty looking game to pass the time. You get to control Shu along with some other lovely hand-drawn characters as you run, jump and glide away from a monstrous storm. There will be 50 levels and will be available on Steam and hopefully PS3, PS4 and Vita.We heard rumour of at least one person who kept returning across multiple days to better their time and I can see why, (Also with the added hope of acquiring a tshirt.) I only played once and can feel the appeal. A great looking platformer that’s relatively easy to learn from our small experience at Rezzed, easily compared to Rayman regarding gameplay and the cartoon visual style but with additional characters allowing for abilities to become varied you’ll be racing to escape the ever-following storm.

Goetia

“It is 1941. War is raging, and Blackwood Manor lies empty.” Now this game caught my eye. Literally initial reaction was ooooooo. Unfortunately, never got a chance to give this point-and-click mystery adventure a go. Oozing eeriness, mystery and having a gothic look to it, Goetia has you play as a ghost, which already creates different dynamics and physics to the usual, making it interesting and fun. For example, yay you can float through walls, the drawback to this is obviously you cannot take objects through with you. And it’s the sort of game you can find yourself playing for hours without realizing as you go at your own pace. Available on PC, Mac and Linux.At first glance this seems more for Tahra as a puzzle based exploring game but after hearing the gist of the story I’m very intrigued, having returned from the dead you are trying to piece together what happened as to make you end up dead as well as discover what has happened to your family and who has taken residence in your home. If I don’t get to watch this game unfold over Tahra’s shoulder I’m definitely going to play Goetia too.

Wrong Wire

Moving on to the first Introversion Software game I had a go at, Wrong Wire obviously reminds me of “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” and is absolutely great fun when you are trying to work it out with someone who isn’t quite on the same wavelength as you at the time (Yes Andy I’m talking about you! :P) and the clock is ticking. This is also another game I slightly panicked at which obviously didn’t help. We did get there in the end and is good fun alone or with friends if you enjoy puzzle games.Recognising the Introversion Software logo from a distance is easily done but seeing two unknown titles under their logo was a welcomed surprise! With the obvious comparison mentioned above I’ll just add that playing a solo bomb defusal experience allows for a very different experience and shouldn’t be shrugged off by anyone. Another noteworthy point is that this could be played with friends but tension will probably rise, as you’ll be yelling and pointing with suggestions like I did standing behind Tahra.

Scanner Sombre

Schooching over onto Introversion’s other prototype game, Scanner Sombre is more for those who like exploring. With an interesting idea of using a scanner to help you see the level, otherwise everything is pitch black. (So good luck getting around without it!) You are basically in a large dark cave and you use the scanner to shoot colourful pellets around in order to see the various surfaces and hopefully acquire a sense of depth which thus helps you navigate your way around. Enjoyable trying to figure out where to go next and what to do, nice and colourful, has some suspenseful music but not in the form of a jump-scare. (So there was no screaming from me.) An overall good mooch sort of feel to it.As Tahra mentioned above Introversion Software had two prototype games on show at EGX this year, as well as a voting box for each to try and determine possible interest for the titles. Luckily after chatting with one of their guys I found out you didn’t have to pick a single game so without a pause I dropped a pin in each voting box before attaching a third to my lanyard. Both games are intriguing and appealing in different ways, just happened to be that I am looking forward to seeing both heading for development.

Outreach

We find ourselves now in the Leftfield room. First game, Outreach. Nice concept, but not for those who I guess feel sick when spinning around a lot. (Yep me.) Completely disorientating game for both me AND Andy. (Now that says something, although he did keep blaming the inverted settings blah blah blah, oh wait, I’m sorry, he just corrected me, the non-inverted settings!) The game has you in space in an anti-gravitational setting. It’s still in the works, currently mechanics and physics are implemented to help demonstrate the intended design to help with orientating and the movement of both you and objects you pick up and throw.What happened before we arrived at this secret military space station..? Where are the crew..? Why do I keep looking down instead of up, argh..!..? Seriously though no complaints as Outreach is still in development but already has a great atmosphere, a story that I’m just going to have to solve and rare gameplay mechanics. You’ll definitely be seeing more of this game in our future.

Postal Redux

Yes, I managed to have a go at this one too and after dying once straight away, I really got into this game! Dual stick shooting fun, reminds me of “Dead Horde” but of course instead of killing zombies you’re killing crazed gunmen. Postal Redux is the high definition remake of the classic Postal game and will be available on PC and PS4.Being around longer than I have it’s nice to see multidirectional shooters are still being developed and as a fan of both the genre and the original Postal game I’ll be happily giving this game a shot. Additionally they’ve added in a new “Rampage Mode” to the HD remaster aiming to have players use a more aggressive playstyle.

Y2K

Didn’t play this game but both Andy and I did comment on the lovely artwork of this which obviously caught both of our attention. In brief, this game is a post-modern Japanese Style RPG set in the 1990s. It’s a colourful 3D game which will be available on PS4, PS Vita, Wii U and Steam.This game had my curiosity at “weaponised panda plushies”..!

The Black Death

This games graphics were really nice in my opinion so it was another which easily caught my attention. Clearly I go one of two ways, either cute and colourful, or dank and dangerous, this game is definitely the latter! Shame I never got to have a go but from what I saw it is one I would like to check out further in the future. To give you an idea, it is a multiplayer survival game where you get to choose what you want to do in order to increase your chances of surviving the plague. Basically, the richer and wealthier you are, the stronger you become and the better your chances.Recently multiplayer survival games have made me a lot more wary of trusting random players, this sounds like it’ll be a good take on this genre or in a cooperative PvE setting, I’ll be keeping watch on The Black Death to see where the development takes it.

Kingdom

I won’t lie, it was the horse that got me walking towards this game. With a pretty, modern pixel-art aesthetic, Kingdom was one I managed to have a go at and fail miserably which seemed to reflect real life in the sense that I carelessly spent my money too quickly therefore compromising my defences and spreading myself too thin. This ended up with me losing my people and getting myself killed. Woop-di-doo! I don’t know if it is the sort of game I would sit down for hours and play, but it is definitely a good one if you like to think ahead and plan what it is you think needs priority in order to keep your kingdom safe and to expand it, which is the aim of the game. I lost mine after two nights and it was barely a kingdom if you could call it that.I’ve known about Kingdom since its PC release and always thought I’d enjoy setting Tahra loose on it, turns out seeing her play it I’m very likely to pick this up myself with the Xbox One release!

Superhot

I was like, Andy I wanna have a go at this, pleeeeeeeeeeeease! Unfortunately we ran out of time, but love the concept of time only moving as you move, so you can plan your attacks. Only caught a glimpse at Rezzed and even though it looked quite simplistic in regards to controls, graphics and colour it still looked like an interesting game to try out.Still awaiting news on the release date for Xbox One, quite a clever idea simply implemented so as not to distract from it. I’m unsure how Tahra will fair with this game as she panics and runs all over the place typically! We shall see as this one will definitely be captured and saved for future mockings when I get her playing it.

Manual Samuel

So this game I thought looked really funny and as soon as the seat was empty I jumped right in. Absolutely LOVED this game. So different to anything I’ve played before and despite you having to do the same things repetitively for Samuel there is always so much to remember! The simplest little things we take for granted, like breathing, blinking and even standing up straight, makes this game so much more interesting just to get through the levels. I’ve definitely taken my stamina as well as my ability to just go anywhere and do whatever I want in other games for granted. Such a fun game and it did make me actually LOL a few times too. Great new concept that will be out this Summer on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.Manual Samuel did make me chuckle a bunch of times and we were informed that it will have coop in the future which obviously makes it a prime game to play together and end a friendship or two. Simple but slightly creepy art style, reminding me of Ren & Stimpy, this crazy game is trying to make it as awkward as possible to perform the simplest task, I can’t wait!

The Last Word

Again another game that was different to others, initially having to use actual text and words to help your character move across the screen to the next part. What I definitely found a nice surprise which added to the game is that fact that when you think the simple doodle-like look is all the game is going to be, it went into a beautifully designed side-scrolling colourful cartoon similar to the art design of Rayman.Standing out easily in the Xbox section for good reasons The Last Word comes across as an emotional journey and possibly inspired from a real life event? As it easily tugged at a few heart-strings, I’d love to see where The Last Word goes post Rezzed demo.

Lumo

Cute character was my initial thought. Then the fact that there are over hundreds of rooms with various secrets and puzzles to go through definitely got my interest. Play as Lumo lost inside a mysterious castle as you try to find your way out. Sad to say I never got a chance to play this, however I will be checking out this modern isometric, arcade adventure game for sure.Lumo is out this month, in less than a week..! We’re going to have to put aside some time to play this game, a crazy amount of levels but from what I’ve seen so far there is quite a large amount of diversity so no worries regarding the game becoming repetitive hopefully. Also there’s more to this game than just reaching goals, this game will reward you for bending game mechanics and actually escaping out of the immediately playable area!

Human Fall Flat

Think of Gang Beasts but without the colour and instead of a beat-em-up it’s a puzzle and exploration game. Still no feet. Still disturbing. But still looks fun.I do like puzzle games and a decent physics based engine behind them, my fingers are crossed that Human Fall Flat will be able to succeed in both of those aspects… Alternatively it’ll be hilarious laughing at Tahra waddling round and generally causing havoc for poor Bob.

Dear Esther

Well, I think utter confusion ended up out of this. Sat there, walked around, got bored, asked Andy when the action happens and why I can’t jump, pick things up, run, or generally interact with anything, and what my purpose is, where am I supposed to go, what am I supposed to do etc. and after he said, you’re doing it, I went, WHAT?!? and decided to leave it. Oh and every so often some guy would chat a paragraph of something. Shame as the graphics were really nice. Not my sort of game to be honest, however after a little research I noticed it has a good idea, just seemed a little tedious and slow for my liking. You basically explore an island and as you reach new locations, you listen to a series of letter fragments (to Esther) relating to these locations, which are there to help you determine what has happened to Esther. You basically draw your own conclusion from what you discover and in what order you discover them due to ambiguity.Judging by some scores and reviews there’s no doubt Dear Esther does something right… But… That something is not something that really appeals to me sadly. Being classed as an “artistic game” or an “exploration title” may be fitting but with minimal gameplay mechanics I have a hard time considering it to actually be a game. Having lovely looking visuals and great audio from the sound effects, soundtrack and narrator could appeal to people.

Shadowhand

LOVE LOVE LOVE! Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. If you love your fast paced, action-y, FPS then my friends this won’t be your sort of game. However, if you fancy a break from all of that stress, by all means try it out! It’s a card-battling adventure game with combat and strategy. Alongside this, it has lovely artwork set in the late 18th century and I think it drew me over because the artwork reminded me of hidden object games (which I won’t lie is a slight obsession of mine). Was utterly devastated when the demo was over, so am definitely looking forward to when this comes out on PC and Mac.I just knew Tahra was going to be a fan of ShadowHand from the initial press release, an adventure game that is based more on solitaire than running and jumping about, sorted..! This’ll be perfect to unwind and enjoy for short sessions but unlocking new items and weapons will have you playing for much longer.

MekaZoo

Soooooo preeeeeetty!! Yeah of course I was attracted like a moth to a flame. Classed as a “throwback 2D platformer” set in fully 3D environments, you control a handful of mechanised animals who each have unique skills and abilities which you use to get through beautiful and colourful levels. It will be available later on in the year on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U.It’s nice to see 2D platformers still being advanced as they’ve been a staple of gaming for so long now. MekaZoo, like mentioned with Shu earlier has various skills at your disposal but each game is different in pace and art style both helping to cater to fans of the genre.

Perlinoid (She Remembered Caterpillars)

Cute caterpillars. Need I say more. Ok, so it’s a puzzle game with various coloured characters and corresponding bridges aka caterpillars and you need to get your characters across to the flower pad thingys so they can fly off, be merry and you can move on to the next level. Sounds simple enough but you also need to combine and separate colours to advance through. Loads of fun, and kind of reminded me of the board game “Rush Hour”, as you need to move objects in a certain order over certain ways to get them where they need to be. Not exactly the same as Rush Hour but had similarities. Cute animations so obviously I was hooked. Another game where I was sad when the demo was over.Between the start of this article and now it appears Perlinoid is now going by the name “She Remembered Caterpillars” with the aim to be more memorable with regards to the game. The simple gameplay and aesthetics result in a beautiful puzzler which is worth checking out for any fan of the genre.

Eugenics

Huh? Ok, so these guys said they only had 48 hours to get the game together which was slightly apparent. Great idea, but needs refining for sure. You have a chromosome with slots that you can choose to be either pink or blue and many labels each with a pink and blue trait which you can attach to these coloured slots. So for each slot, you have a pink and blue trait and depending on the slot colour, will therefore have either the blue, or pink trait on the label. Now, by increasing your population, you can figure out which label corresponds with which section of the chromosome. So for instance, what makes that individual a man or woman, lazy or tall etc. It’s a little confusing as a first go at Rezzed and I think starting off with a smaller chromosome, or one with less slots would be a great way to get into this game and build up to more complex versions.After initial confusion of just watching the game being played I started to get my head round it, seems like it would be a great type of brain-training game and/or one to build, a simpler initial level, a childs thinking and coordination.